Saturday, October 30, 2010

Zentangle tiles in photo cubes

Those acrylic photo cubes fit 3.5" square photos - the same size as a zentangle tile. Perfect! You could have half a dozen on a side table or the piano top.

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Artist Trading Cards full speed ahead!

I've been interested in Artist Trading Cards (ATCs) for quite some time but hadn't had an occasion to get involved. Enter patsy monk, a Zentangle teacher in Florida. She proposed an ATC swap among the Certified Zentangle Teachers for anyone who was interested. I was!

Artist Trading Cards measure 2.5x3.5 inches, and are for trading only - no selling or buying allowed - and they must be original art.

Zentangle is done in black-and-white but for these cards - just as a challenge - we were to involve color somehow. I asked if I could send 10 cards instead of the requested five, and get more in return... and she agreed! I don't have a photo of the cards I sent (stupid), but here is a picture of some of my ATCs:



A few days ago I received an envelope full of delightful trades:


Next, I went to a local gallery one Sunday afternoon when I understood there was to be an ATC swap. As it turned out, it was an activity for children, but heck... I traded for some pretty cool cards by kids. One has a tiny mouse, one has a blue dinosaur, one is done by a 21-month-old girl, one is a night cityscape.

Then I heard about the Richmond Art Gallery's annual ATC show and swap. I sent them these nine cards in a plastic loose-leaf sheet:


The exhibition runs from 26 November 2010 until 22 January 2011. A few months from now I'll be receiving another batch of cards from artists I've probably never met. I've just discovered that there are trading websites. Of course, isn't there a website for anything you can think of?

Artist Trading Cards, full speed ahead!

Monday, October 25, 2010

GINGHAM tangle instructions

Here's a simple tangle I devised a few months ago based on a square grid. Just make sure you get your vertical and horizontal fills going in the right directions. Enjoy!

Friday, October 22, 2010

Mendel Art Gallery Members' Showcase

I have two pieces in the annual Members' Showcase at the Mendel Art Gallery in Saskatoon (Canada).
One is a zentangle-inspired mixed media work titled "On the Street Where You Live".

The other is a colorful, sort of zentangle-inspired, mandala-esque, acrylic painting called "The Dawn of a New Day". The exhibition continues until November 7.

Wednesday, October 20, 2010

"Anything is possible, one stroke at a time."

Zentangle seems to generate metaphors. Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas, founders of Zentangle, chose one to use as sort of a motto. At the end of our all-day workshop, we gave everyone a page with this metaphor outlined in pencil, so they would have a larger zentangle project to do at home. I did the design of the letters, and Laura did a lot of tracing! We each did one to show the participants. This is mine.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Zentangle all-day workshop

These are the zentangle-inspired mandalas created by the workshop participants.
Saturday, October 16

Yay! Stoked for the all-day workshop!

We’ve been planning this for a couple of months.  We’ve booked the Devic Center southwest of Saskatoon. We’ve had a couple of meetings and a lot of e-mails. We went out the evening before to set-up. My partner in Zentangle crime is Laura Harms, another CZT (Certified Zentangle Teacher).  She’s 7.5 months pregnant, and her two-year-old son had arrived prematurely.  You can see where this might be going, right?

8:30 Saturday morning. I’m about to leave. My cell phone rings. It’s Laura.  “Hi! Umm, I’m on the way to the hospital for an assessment. We’ll find out if I’m actually in labor or not. I’ll keep you posted.”  I tell her not to worry, and wish them all the best. I’m on my own!

When I tell all the participants the situation and there’s a round of gasps and oohs and anticipation. At 10:30 I received a text message: “Baby arriving today. I’ll be in touch.” Two hours later I received another text message that their son had been "born Oct 16 11:31 am 3 lbs 15 oz”. I share this with everyone and text back: “Congrats from all here! Best wishes to all!!!"

We did four tiles, a total of 22 tangles plus some variations and embellishments. As usual, it’s so interesting to see the variety of interpretations when everyone starts with the same instructions and the same patterns. Two of the participants have learned some zentangle before, but four are beginners.

As a special zentangle-inspired art project we had decided to have everyone create a mandala. Using a mandala meant that we could stay with the idea of not drawing a picture of something, and it matters little where ‘up’ and ‘down’ are. I cut 6”-square papers and drew pencil circles and rays on them ahead of time. We gave each student a colored pen and a matching pencil. Away they went! I think mandalas welcome sparkle and I often put tiny gems on mine, so I brought along some gems for the students to use if they wanted.

You can see more photos of the day on my Facebook artist page.

I cleaned up the room and packed up the car. Then I walked the stone 7-circuit labyrinth accompanied by four young cats who practised stalking and pouncing when I passed by and climbed all over me when I sat on the bench at the center. When I drove away the western sky was pink and orange. Four deer crossed the country road and stopped on my right as I drove slowly by.

Must do this again sometime!

Thursday, October 14, 2010

Launch! (missed lunch)

I'm here! I'm here!
Let the bells ring out and the banners fly!
I have been wanting to start a blog for quite some time now and following a morning, afternoon and evening sitting at the computer, notwithstanding a very sore derrière (gotta get a new chair), I have a blog!
Woohoo!